A reader sends in the following pics and info from everyone's favorite street where ANYTHING goes, Clifton, between Broadway and Wilson:"With 26 miles of lakefront parks, for some reason lying in urine is more refreshing?!"
"Natural Ice. Goes down smooth. The guy in the red hat sells cigarettes, if you just need to buy one."
Last night around 7 I got off the Wilson el to see roughly 30-40 individuals having what I would call a party in the Clifton alley. As I walked by I saw the daily drunks and the standard drug dealers. Normally I pass this by without a second thought, but given the number of individuals hanging out there I called the police to break it up.
ReplyDeletePolice showed up fairly quickly as I stuck around to talk to them and heard some very discouraging views from them. Basically the police stated his force gave up on this alley a long time ago. From time to time the police witness issues and criminals in the act, but the criminals have become smart about their rights. The officer went on and on with stories about them arresting individuals and always getting off. Why, you may ask? In order for a "smart" criminal to get charged from a residents 911 phone call and subsequent police arrest, the resident must be present at the time of arrest to identify the individual as well as show up in court. If the caller is not present for either of these events, the criminal can claim he was unlawfully searched and get off with no charges. The officer gave me an example from a few weeks ago about a guy with a gun which they found based on an anonymous caller only to have his case dismissed within 5 minutes in court.
I encourage everyone to call the police and frequently, but that is only the start. You need to stick around, identify people, and show up in court if need be. If the police can't do it alone maybe we can.
When you call 911, they will ask (or are supposed to ask) if you want to leave your name. You can leave your name and state that you would like to be contacted when they pick up the offender you have described. They have called me back before. When you get the call, you can then identify the offender and they can make their case.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't surprise me one bit. You can walk around uptown streets on any given day at anytime and witness people drinking in public. Not trying to conceal it but right out in the open.
ReplyDeleteif you call 911, make sure to state that you are willing to sign a complaint. Also note the exact time of the call. If they don't ask for your information at that point, ask for a supervisor. Or make a FOIA request for the call and make a complaint against the operator.
ReplyDeleteJust last night there was a group of 5-7 people, at least some intoxicated, at the CTA bench at Sunnyside and Sheridan cranking their boombox at 1am. I called and reported a noise complain, and when cops showed up, it got heated. At the height of the matter, one guy was in handcuffs, another was on his way, the boombox sounded like it was smashed (unfortunately is still worked after the left) and in the end everyone was released. The whole matter took more than 30 minutes to resolve, and in the end everyone just walked away. I don't think the cops knew I was watching, but glad to see them taking even something like a noise complaint seriously, especially since the officer told the offenders he's told them 4 times to "turn the music off".
ReplyDelete-Brian
One look at this street and you can see why many of the empty retail spaces stay empty.
ReplyDeleteAnd unfortunately, Wiseguy, it's a self-perpetuating cycle. Crime leads to fewer "good" businesses sticking around, which means criminals have more places to hang out, and fewer "good" people around to call them on it...
ReplyDeleteI respect the jobs that the police are doing, but there is seriously something wrong here. Someone needs to explain why all of this criminal activity happens here and not it Lake View or Andersonville.
ReplyDeleteCould it be our Alderman? Could it be the police not being held accountable or feeling their hands are tied by our Alderman? Could it be the disproportionate amount of low income housing? Could it be the disproportionate amount of social services enabling people? Could it be the unwritten arms wide open and turn a blind eye attitude of many in charge?
Here's an idea, lets give them all 350-450K condo's to live in as a reward for being criminals or for harboring criminals!
Most of these people live at the hell hole otherwise known at the Wilson's Men's CLub where men are packed into windowless cubicles separated by chickenwire and plywood. Can't be too comfortable in there on a hot day with no air conditioning. In fact, this is the same building where multiple corpses were hauled out in the 1996 heatwave.
ReplyDeleteThere is courtyard space behind the building that the owner could renovate into an outdoor area for his tenants? But why should he? The building has been in housing court for 20 years, yet, the City Law Department refuses to prosecute the case saying (and I quote): We work for the Mayor and we do will do what we need to do to keep the most affordable housing(euphinism for dangerous, dilapidated deathtrap) in Uptown.
Let's all remember that the last time the Wilson Men's Club was in housing court, Shiller showed up in support of the owner. Ald. Tunney goes to court in support of the tenants of hellholes like the Diplomat, in his district, and it is now closed. Ald. Shiller goes to court in support of substandard conditions. She did it when Cornerstone had 70+ violations of their shelter on Clifton, including water dripping on a live fuse box, and she did it again last year in support of the Wilson Men's Club. I've never seen her act as a court advocate for any other case or come to court in support of the unfortunates who live in substandard housing. But if one of her pet slums goes into court due to illegal conditions, she's there.
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